CONGEEG  ATIONAL  SINGING : 

A  REPORT 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

^kn.  f  ulj.  liirasttOTm  of  %  ^kk  of  ^tb  f  orli, 

AT  THEIR 

SIXTY-SECOND  SYNODICAL  SESSION, 

Vtlea,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  8,  185T, 

BY  REV.  HENRY  I.  SCHMIDT,  D.  D. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/congregationalsiOOsmit 


REPORT 


Dear  brethren: 

A  variety  of  statements  that  have  been  made  to  us,  relative 
either  to  the  defectiveness  or  entire  discontinuance  of  congrega- 
tional singing  in  many  of  our  congregations,  or  to  sundry  se- 
rious abuses  introduced  inio  this  important  part  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  the  serious  consideration  of  the  remedies  demanded  by 
this  growing  evil,  have  led  our  minds  to  the  conclusion,  that  we 
can  not  better  discharge  our  duty  in  the  premises,  than  by  ad- 
dressing ourselves  directly,  upon  the  subject  in  general,  to  the 
congregations  connected  with  our  body.  What  we  have  to  say 
will,  undoubtedly,  be  more  applicable  to  some  congregations 
than  to  others,  or  one  part  of  our  address  adapted  to  the  circum- 
stances of  one  place,  another  part  to  those  in  another;  and  there 
may  be  congregations  in  which  our  exhortations  are  entirely 
uncalled  for;  yet,  as  it  would  be  obviously  improper  for  us  to 
discriminate,  we  address  our  remarks  to  all  alike,  in  the  hope 
that  even  in  congregations  which  have  faithfully  adhered  to  the 
ancient  practice  of  the  church,  it  may  be  productive  of  good  to 
direct  the  attention  of  church  "members  to  the  true  nature  and 
importance  of  sacred  psalmody. 

We  would  begin  with  urging  upon  your  most  serious  consi- 
deration, the  great  and  solemn  importance  of  this  part  of  public 
worship.  Since  the  beginning  of  time,  vocal  music  has  served 
for  the  expression  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God,  of  those 
deep  devotional  feelings  which  the  contemplation  of  his  won- 
drous character  and  his  glorious  works,  of  his  righteous  judg- 
ments and  his  gracious  dealings  with  his  creatures,  is  so  highly 
fitted  to  inspire.  The  inspired  volume  informs  us,  that,  when 
Omnipotence  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  "  the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 
By  the  morning  stars  and  the  sons  of  God  we  are  here  to  un- 
derstand the  holy  angels,  and  by  the  singing  and  shouting 
ascribed  to  them,  are  denoted  those  songs  of  praise  and  rejoic- 


4 


ing  in  which  the  emotions  that  filled  them  upon  beholding  the 
wondrous  beauties  of  the  new  creation  found  the  most  appro- 
priate expression.  We  have  reason  to  believe,  that  this  mode 
of  praising  and  worshiping  God,  in  which  the  morning  of  crea- 
tion was  solemnized,  has  been  ever  since  employed  by  all  true 
and  devout  children  of  God  in  giving  utterance  to  their  devo- 
tional feelings,  their  gratitude  and  love  to  God.  We  read  of 
Moses  and  Miriam,  the  leaders  of  God's  people  from  the  house 
of  bondage;  of  David,  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  and  of 
many  other  worthies  of  the  old  covenant  church,  that  they  wor- 
shiped the  God  of  their  fathers,  and  offered  him  praise  and 
thanksgiving  for  signal  deliverances  and  blessings,  by  lifting  up 
their  hearts  and  voices  in  sacred  song.  Our  blessed  Savior 
himself  was  wont  to  join  his  disciples  in  singing  hymns  of 
praise  to  the  Almighty  Father  above,  and  from  her  earliest  days, 
the  Church  of  the  Redeemer  has  followed  up,  with  more  or  less 
consistency,  the  practice  inaugurated  at  the  morning  of  creation, 
continued  by  the  Old  Testament  saints,  and  sanctioned  and  com- 
mended by  the  example  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  and 
his  immediate  disciples.  Although  this  sacred  exercise  was 
long  distorted  and  perverted  in  the  gorgeous  ritual  of  the  Romish 
communion,  it  was  fully  and  effectually  restored,  by  our  own 
Luther,  at  the  glorious  reformation,  as  an  element  of  social  or 
public  worship,  in  which,  more  than  in  any  other,  entire  wor- 
shiping assemblies  are  to  unite  their  hearts  and  voices.  When, 
therefore,  we  engage  in  this  sacred  act,  we  not  only  perform  a 
religious  duty,  enjoy  a  religious  privilege,  and  give  an  impulse 
to  our  own  and  each  others  devotion,  but  we  place  ourselves  in 
sweet  and  blessed  communion  with  God's  people  of  every  age 
and  clime,  and  with  the  whole  church  of  the  present;  and  not 
only  so,  but  we  attune  our  stammering  tongues  to  the  golden 
harps  and  glorious  strains  of  angels  around  the  throne,  and  pre- 
pare ourselves  to  join  in  that  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb, 
which  now  resounds  from  the  lips  of  countless  ransomed  and 
perfected  spirits  through  the  mansions  of  heaven. 

Important  and  rich  in  blessing  as  this  duty,  this  privilege, 
thus  obviously  is,  it  is  its  neglect  and  frequent  abuse,  which 
have  induced  us  to  invite  our  churches,  at  this  present  time,  to 
its  serious  consideration.  In  our  church,  as  well  as  in  others,  it 
has  long  been  a  subject  of  complaint,  that  the  good  old  practice 
of  congregational  singing,  joined  in  by  entire  worshiping  assem- 
blies, has,  in  a  great  measure  fallen  into  disuse,  having  been,  in 
some  congregations  partially,  in  others  entirely,  abandoned  to 
choirs.  This  evil  has  doubtless  been,  to  a  great  extent,  the  re- 
sult of  the  arrogant  proceedings  of  choirs  or  their  leaders,  in 
appropriating  to  themselves  the  entire  control  and  direction  of 
the  sacred  psalmody  of  the  church,  regardless,  or  in  defiance  of 


5 


the  views  and  feelings  of  pastor  and  people,  introducing,  ad 
libitum,  new  collections,  consulting  only  their  own  taste  or 
artistic  proficiency  in  the  selection  of  tunes,  managing  every 
thing  in  their  own  way,  and  leaving  the  congregation  no  altern- 
ative but  to  succumb  to  the  infliction  in  mute  amazement  or 
disgust.  Thus  it  came,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  be  regarded 
as  an  established  rule,  that  this  most  essential  element  of  public 
worship  belonged  exclusively  to  choirs,  whether  well  or  ill 
qualified  for  the  discharge  of  the  sacred  duty.  While  some 
congregations  have  only  in  so  far  yielded  to  this  domination  as 
to  follow  implicitly  the  guidance  of  the  choir,  the  innovation 
has,  in  others,  established  itself  in  absolute  possession  of  the 
field.  Now  we  feel  bound  to  say  to  you,  dear  brethren,  that 
such  a  state  of  things  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  duty  and 
with  the  ends  of  public  worship.  For  to  unite  our  voices  in 
hymns  of  adoration  and  praise  to  God,  is  an  exercise  which  is 
not  only  commended  to  us  by  the  example  of  God's  people  in 
all  past  ages  of  the  church,  and  constitutes  the  most  delightful 
occupation  of  saints  and  angels  round  the  throne,  but  is  enjoined 
upon  us,  as  a  duty,  by  direct  precept  and  command.  Among 
the  many  exhortations  given  in  the  psalms  to  praise  the  Lord,  a 
great  number  are,  doubtless,  to  be  understood  as  referring  to 
this  peculiar  mode  of  magnifying  his  name,  as  is  quite  evident 
from  a  number  of  other  passages,  which  define  the  one  term  by 
the  other,  such  are  the  following:  "  Praise  the  Lord  with  harp, 
sing  unto  him  with  psaltery;  "  "  Sing  unto  him  a  new  song." 
"  Sing  forth  the  honor  of  his  name;  make  his  praise  glorious." 
"All  the  earth  shall  worship  thee,  and  shall  sing  unto  thee;  they 
shall  sing  to  thy  name."  "  0  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord;  make 
known  his  deeds  among  the  people.  Sing  unto  him,  sing  psalms 
unto  him;"  and  many  others  of  like  import.  In  like  manner 
the  Apostle  Paul  exhorts  the  Ephesians:  "  Be  filled  with  the 
spirit;  speaking  to  yourselves  in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spirit- 
ual songs,  singing  and  making  melody  in  your  heart  to  the 
Lord."  And  also  to  the  Colossians:  "  Let  the  word  of  Chi  ist 
dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom;  teaching  and  admonishing 
one  another  in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs,  singing 
with  grace  in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord."  Thus,  then,  as  a  duty 
enjoined  by  scripture,  as  an  established  institution  of  the 
church,  as  an  essential  element  of  social  and  public  wor- 
ship, in  which  we  are  to  praise  the  name  of  our  Maker  and 
Redeemer,  to  lift  up  and  enliven  our  own  hearts,  and  to  ad- 
monish, encourage  and  edify  each  other,  this  act  of  devotion  and 
worship  should  be  unspeakably  precious  to  our  souls;  we  should 
hold  ourselves  under  solemn  obligations  to  engage  in  it  statedly 
and  on  all  suitable  occasions — to  engage  in  it  with  an  obedient 
spirit,  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude  and  love. 


6 


We  can  not  but  deeply  lament,  that  this  important  and  most 
edifying  part  of  public  worship  has  been,  by  many  of  our  con- 
gregations measurably,  by  others  entirely  abandoned  to  choirs, 
which,  whatever  may  be  the  character  of  those  choirs,  is  utterly 
wrong.    It  is  so  in  every  point  of  view.    To  abandon  the  sa- 
cred psalmody  of  the  church  to  choirs,  often,  perhaps  generally, 
quite  unfit  for  the  trust,  is  wrong,  because  it  is  to  delegate  to 
proxies  what  is  the  sacred  duty  and  privilege  of  the  entire  con- 
gregation and  each  of  its  members;  because  it  is  an  act  of  wor- 
ship and  devotion  w^hich  it  is  impossible  to  perform  by  proxy; 
quite  as  impossible  as  it  is  to  offer  our  supplications  and  the 
service  of  a  holy  life  to  God,  by  proxy.    On  special  occasions 
it  may  be  proper  and  desirable  that  a  choir  should  contribute  to 
the  solemnity  of  the  exercises  by  performing  some  appropriate 
piece  of  music.    But  if,  in  the  stated  and  regular  services  of 
the  sanctuary,  the  congregation  permits  the  choir  wholly,  or 
nearly  so,  to  monopolize  the  songs  of  adoration  and  praise, 
which  ought  to  be  raised  by  every  heart  and  every  tongue,  this 
beautiful  and  edifying  exercise  degenerates  into  an  unmeaning 
performance,  and  is  gradually  degraded,  by  the  self-complacent 
folly  of  the  performers,  into  a  mere,  theatrical  exhibition.  It 
will  still  more  fully  appear  how  inconsistent  and  wrong  it  is, 
thus  to  neglect  this  duty  and  to  forego  this  privilege,  when  it 
is  considered  that,  according  to  the  practice  of  our  church  in 
America,  the  singing  of  sacred  hymns  is  the  only  mode  in  which 
assembled  congregations  are  enabled  to  take  an  active  part  in 
the  public  worship  of  God.    Surely  we  do  not  assemble  in  the 
courts  of  the  Lord,  only  to  hear  our  ministers  pray  and  preach,  and 
to  have  our  ears  delighted  or  tortured,  as  the  case  may  be,  by  the 
musical  performances  of  a  choir,  but  to  join,  with  heart  and 
voice,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  scripture  and  appointed  by 
the  church,  in  worshiping  our  God  and  in  singing  his  praises. 
It  is  our  decided  opinion  that,  if  we  can  not  have  congrega- 
tional singing  in  our  churches,  singing  conducted  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  admit  of  its  being  joined  in  by  all,  it  would  be 
better  to  dispense  with  this  exercise  entirely.    And  with  this 
view  of  the  subject,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to  exhort  our  brethren 
to  exert  themselves  and  to  take  the  necessary  measures  for  the 
revival  of  this  edifying  practice,  where  it  has  measurably  fallen 
into  disuse,  and  for  its  complete  restoration,  where  it  has  been 
utterly  abandoned.    We  exhort  and  beseecli  the  members  of  our 
churches  to  return  at  once  to  this  scriptural  usage,  commended 
to  us  by  the  praiseworthy  example  of  our  great  reformer  and  of 
our  forefathers,  by  putting  a  stop  to  all  usurped  dictation  or 
control,  by  themselves  heartily  resuming  the  strains  of  sacred 
song,  and  devoutly  uniting  tlieir  voices  in  singing  hymns  of 
adoration  and  praise  to  God,  their  Maker,  their  Father  and  Re- 


7 


deemer.  To  do  this  fitly  and  worthily,  all  that  is  necessary  is, 
that  besides  the  organist,  each  congregation  should  be  provided 
with  a  serious  and  competent  leader.  While  we  consider  this 
sufficient,  we  see  no  reason  to  object  to  a  good  choir,  animated 
by  a  proper  spirit,  and  content  to  serve  the  church  by  simply 
leading  the  congregation  in  the  singing  of  tunes  every  way 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  public  worship.  But  we  earnestly 
entreat  you,  dear  brethren,  no  longer  to  commit  this  important, 
solemn  and  edifying  part  of  the  public  worship  of  God  to  a  small 
number  of  trained  singers,  but  to  regard  it  as  your  sacred  duty 
and  blessed  privilege  yourselves  to  worship  and  praise  your  God 
by  singing  with  your  own  voices,  and  w^ith  heartfelt  devotior^, 
the  sweet  hymns,  the  beautiful  songs  of  Zion. 

There  are  two  points  upon  which  we  desire  here  to  add  a  few 
words.  In  the  first  place,  we  consider  it  very  important,  that  it 
should  not  be  left  entirely  to  the  taste  of  the  leader  of  the  choir 
to  select  collections  of  church  tunes,  or  to  his  caprice  to  intro- 
duce new  ones.  The  injudicious  selection  and  the  frequent 
change  of  such  collections  have  contributed,  as  much  as  any 
other  cause,  to  the  present  neglect  or  discontinuance  of  congre- 
gational singing.  These  are  things  in  reference  to  which,  as 
they  are  essentially  connected  with  the  dignity  and  solemnity  of 
public  divine  worship,  the  pastor  and  elders  of  the  church  should 
be  consulted.  As  these  are  the  persons  whose  office  it  is  to 
take  care  that  the  services  of  the  sanctuary  are  conducted  in 
the  proper  manner,  there  can  not  be  a  single  good  reason  alleged, 
why  an  element  of  public  worship  so  important  as  the  psalmody 
of  the  church  should  be  exempt  from  their  supervision,  or  why 
choristers  should  be  emancipated  from  their  control.  And  in 
the  second  place,  we  hold,  that  it  is  utterly  incompatible  with 
the  fitness  of  things  and  the  solemnity  of  the  Lord's  day  and 
house  and  worship,  to  adapt  secular  or  profane  tunes  to  the  sa- 
cred hymns  of  the  church.  We  know  that  the  practice  prevails 
extensively,  of  singing  hymns  to  worn  out  worldly  tunes,  which, 
having  gone  out  of  fashion  in  social  circles,  are  deemed  good 
enough  for  the  worship  of  God.  Many  of  these  tunes  are  fitted 
only  to  call  up  unhallowed  or  even  disgusting  associations;  but, 
whatever  their  character  may  be,  when  we  consider  the  inex- 
haustable  wealth  of  the  church  in  sacred  music,  the  awfulness 
of  the  place  where  the  Lord's  honor  dwelleth,  and  the  solemnity 
of  his  worship,  we  can  not  but  earnestly  exhort  our  brethren  to 
cast  or  keep  out  of  the  precincts  consecrated  to  the  worship  and 
praise  of  God,  whatsoever  is  worldly  or  profane,  and  fitted  to 
lure  the  spirit  from  the  contemplation  of  things  sacred  and 
divine. 

In  conclusion  we  repeat,  that  it  is  not  to  choirs  themselves 
that  we  object,  but  to  the  usurpations  practiced  and  the  abuses 


8 


introduced  by  them  in  most  of  our  churches,  for  many  years 
past.  We  cheerfully  concede  the  usefulness  of  choirs,  not  too 
large,  animated  by  a  devout  spirit,  content  to  lead  the  choral 
singing  of  the  church,  and  willing  to  submit  to  proper  authority 
and  wholesome  control.  With  such  a  choir,  congregations  will 
be  able  to  join  heartily  in  singing  our  hymns  of  adoration  and 
praise.  And  it  is  this  result  which  we  most  anxiously  desire  to 
effect;  it  is  with  this  object  in  view,  that  we  now  affectionately 
address  the  congregations  connected  with  this  body.  We  ar- 
dently desire  that  our  churches  may  again  resound,  as  they  once 
did,  and  as  those  of  our  German  brethren  still  do,  with  the  me- 
lodious strains  of  sacred  psalmody,  with  the  sweet  songs  of 
Zion,  with  hallelujahs  to  our  God  and  Savior,  heartily  and  fer- 
vently joined  in  by  all  the  members  of  our  worshiping  assem- 
blies. We  exhort  and  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  let  no  consider- 
ations of  expediency,  no  conventional  notions,  no  obstacles, 
prevent  your  return  to  the  good  old  practice  of  our  evangelical 
church,  of  uniting  all  hearts  and  voices  in  songs  of  adoration 
and  praise  to  Him  who  reigns  on  high,  to  Him  who  came  on 
earth  and  lived  and  died  for  our  salvation.  To  do  this  is  your 
sacred  duty  and  your  blessed  privilege.  And  may  the  great 
Master  of  assemblies  dispose  and  enable  you  thus  to  glorify  him 
on  earth,  until  he  shall  call  you  to  your  home  beyond  the  skies, 
there  to  join  in  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb. 


